Surviving Modern Yoga

Praise

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST EDITION

“With interviews and real stories of recovery, Remski presents us an authoritative guide on the effects of sexual abuse, misconduct, and trauma in the modern, globalized yoga world as well as an analysis that invites the possibility of change to this culture of abuse. This book offers hope and practical solutions for those who seek an end to the cycle of trauma, abuse of power, and sexual violence in yoga culture today.”
—SUSANNA BARKATAKI, founder and director of education at Ignite Yoga and Wellness Institute

“This text centers the voices of the female victims of serial abuser Pattabhi Jois, and it illuminates the wider psychoanalytic and structural conditions that enabled such abuse…. Remski has established himself as one of the most perspicacious and important scholar-practitioners of contemporary transnational yoga.”
—ANN GLEIG, associate professor of religion and cultural studies at the University of Central Florida

“This is a text that can heal the wounds of yoga and allow us to reimagine it as a safe practice for everyone, free from abuse and injury.”
—JIVANA HEYMAN, founder and director of Accessible Yoga

“A potent treatise, bringing well-needed, thoughtful, and measured scrutiny to a controversial subject…. This book should be considered required reading for all those involved in yoga therapy training, and I strongly recommend it to all yoga professionals as well.”
—CASSI KIT, director, faculty, and administrative coordinator at the School of Embodied Yoga Therapy and yoga therapist (C-IAYT, PYT)

“…a remarkable book. [Remski’s] fair examination of some of the cultish and dogmatic elements in yogic culture—and the impact they’ve had on women, in particular—is erudite, well-researched, and engaging. But what’s of particular note in his work is the empathy, sensitivity, and respect he takes in addressing the abuse inherent in authoritarian systems. In doing so, he’s created a testament to those whose lives have been directly impacted by such abuses of power.”
—CARRIE OWERKO, senior-level Iyengar yoga teacher, Laban Movement analyst, and functional range conditioning mobility specialist

“Informative, challenging, and thought-provoking, a foray into the difficult topics of personal agency, spirituality authority, and cult dynamics…. If you practice or teach yoga, please consider this book an essential companion on your path.”
—CHRISTINA SELL, author of Yoga from the Inside Out, My Body Is a Temple, and A Deeper Yoga

“Jois and ashtanga had a significant influence on what yoga is today in the US and worldwide…. We need to face and discuss this history and that of any harm in order to move into the true promise of living out yogic teachings—harmlessness, integrity, generosity, non-attachment, and the wise use of sexual energies.”
—JACOBY BALLARD, yoga teacher, social justice educator, and author of A Queer Dharma

“Thank you, Matthew Remski and the courageous women who have stepped forward to offer this pivotal work, a service to humanity, to the yoga world at large, to long-time practitioners, and to future generations so that we can evolve into cultivating a safe space that all beings deserve.”
—SHIVA REA, author of Tending the Heart Fire and founder of the Samudra Global School for Living Yoga